For reasons that are as complex in depth as they are simple on the surface, the concept of - Truth - has become anathema in the daily dialog of today's politically minded American and - our society as a whole.

Telling the truth is now the essence of a political gaffe, a reverse mirror of inconvenient fact, or an out of context regurgitation of spoken observation.

We see and hear what we want to see and hear for partisan reasons, believe what we are told to believe by jaded news services, and there is every indication that this trend will dictate the diminishing quality of our future - as a once great nation.

What Free, Fair and Impartial Press?

Our news media and Free Press, once the envy of the civilized world and the accepted bastion of impartiality, now reflects a raw open pride in taking a side in any debate of public issue. Their goal: newspaper and magazine sales and television ratings. They no longer simply report the news, they custom manufacture it.

During the presidential election of 2008, our so-called Free and Impartial Press was as actively involved in the campaign, as the managers of the victor's party in achieving success for their candidate. And because of their actions we have, for all of the wrong reasons, once again elected an ill prepared candidate as our national leader.

President George W. Bush was an incompetent individual, whose election could easily be credited to chance, were in not for the fact that - we the people, - elected him to serve a second term. Then following in the footsteps of Bush's appointment as Emperor of the West, we elected an inexperienced, socialistically inclined and intellectually driven president, Barack H. Obama, to replace him at the helm of the ship of state. A ship of state that is now - unquestionably - out of control.

Placing a Morality Cap on Profit

In the 1959 film, "Li'l Abner', a visiting industrialist to the mythical county of Dogpatch, remarks on his childhood ambition:

"When I was a young boy, I dreamed of someday having all the money in the world. Now you wouldn't want to destroy the dreams of a child, would you?"

Back then such an utterance was considered humorous, but today it sparks uncomfortably of the truth. Many in the corporate offices of America regard Capitalism as the ceiling of a large cathedral: one that reaches up into the heavens without end - representative of a Profit ceiling that has - no limits, and positions no social commitment nor moral impediments in their path. They call it - Free Market Strategy.

These giants of industry and commerce (and their campaign funded parasites in Congress) work tirelessly to maintain massive profits at any costs, while being allowed to ignore the daily economic plight of their workers and country as a whole.

They are best described as corporate blood suckers, or better yet - Economic Vampires. And their Profit Engines must be Legally Capped for the greater good of the American people.

Unlimited Capitalism = Unlimited Profit

For generations they have managed to convince an entire nation and their congressional representatives, that this outlook was - good for America - until they started exporting jobs. Now we know the real equation of a Profit System without limits:

Unlimited Capitalism x Unlimited Profit = Unlimited Greed

The Founding Fathers had no such perverted concept in mind for America. However, this socially destructive principle reflects the way the citizens of Wall Street operate to the detriment of this country, and will continue to do so - if we allow them.

Let's be realistic, Greed is an unfortunate part of the Human Equation - like it or not. Greed is an addiction like any other, and is difficult to control once it has been let loose. To pretend that it does not exist in all of us to some degree, is to pretend there is no such thing as - Evil.

Nor can we continue to rationalize the varying preponderance of greed exhibited by far too many American corporate leaders on a grand scale.

It is, however, not the fault of the American people that securities Trading firms, film studios and music recording companies, in a constant bidding war, pay their top stars hundreds of millions of dollars. And then are allowed to reward their Chief Executive Officers' (CEO's) and other high placed corporate officers, salaries and open ended bonus contracts approaching the billion dollar level - to be awarded whether they succeed or fail.

The Perverse Pay Gap

In the 1948 film, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House", top executive Cary Grant earns $14, 500 per year. While in a 1963 episode of the "Twilight Zone", a company accountant earns $95 per week. Adjusting for inflation in the time span between the two, in 1963 Cary Grant's character would have been earning approximately $25, 000 a year - or 5 times the salary of a company accountant. What happened to cause today's gross corporate pay disparity? Who's minding the 'fair compensation morality' store?

Evil exists so we employ highly effective law enforcement branches of federal and local governments, to keep evil doers at bay. But somehow or other, even though we openly admit to Greed and include its definition in our dictionaries and our religious texts, we as a society continually fail at the task of protecting ourselves from the dastardly acts of those who prosper by - Greed.

"The fault is not in our stars, ... but in ourselves."

Universal Health Care

I fully agree with the Obama administration on the one inescapable conclusion that can be drawn from the present debate on Universal Health Care: there are a lot of deliberately placed myths and falsehoods floating around as fact. But I also take umbrage with them over the other side of that coin: for there are a lot of long-range pitfalls looming up in front of their proposed plan - that they would like the public not to see.

Is this program a form of Socialism? The answer is an unequivocal - yes, for if it doesn't qualify as such in its formative stage, in the not too distant future - it will rapidly evolve into a Socialistic Healthcare nightmare. And it must always be kept in mind at the forefront of this critical debate, that there is only one available feedstock of funds to finance such a massive program - Medicare and the Middle Class.

Medicare is the last vestige of - Accumulated Wealth Protection - afforded the Middle Income aka Middle Class. We as a nation have broken all other promises to this very important but economically fragile group.

We have whittled away their financial base for home ownership, borrowed from their Social Security Trust to the point of pending bankruptcy, and brought the horror of Minimum Wage to the doorstep of their once heralded lifestyle. All they have left is a workable system to give them some respite from ever increasing medical costs in their golden years.

Now the Democrat controlled congress, under pressure of an extreme Liberal Wing, wants to stretch this already strained system to cover - everybody - even if they are not under Social Security or have ever paid into the system.

Think about that! That's Socialism! Over time we all know this will include welfare recipients and illegal immigrants - no matter what the Obama administration says.

We have the perfect example of what will happen up the road with such a system: Social Security. Simply look at where it started and what it grew to become. It was a room designed to accomodate only retirees, then the politicians took the room's door off of its hinges and, eventually, let just about everyone including - Illegal Immigrants. Now, they want to do the same with - Medicare.

Quite simply, this financially destructive experiment is not possible without breaking the back of the Medicare System altogether. We might as well start referring to the fiscal abomination that would most assuredly result from such an economic proposal as - Medi-debt.

Re-Programming the Insurance Industry for People

The insurance Industry must be made to include the Human Factor into their rules of operation. And since it is quite obvious they will not do so on their own, Congress must 'impose' said rules for them.

After all, we routinely craft safety codes and place operational limits on the vehicles that convey humans from one place to another. So why should we not impose similar rules on an industry that controls the health care of our citizenry from day to day?

It is the Insurance Industry's method of operation that is largely responsible for the health care crisis. But with the simple addition of a few - no break or bypass rules , it is possible to repair the damage they have caused to the lives of so many Americans:

(Rule 1)Patients with Preexisting Conditions cannot be refused insurance

(Rule 2)Patients with Critical Illnesses cannot be dropped from coverage

Containing Higher Education Costs

Why does an organic chemistry text book that cost $9.85 in 1959, cost $185 today? With the advances in computer printing automation technology, and the disappearance of the typesetter, the printing process should cost much less than it did in 1959. There is no reason for such an elevation in price other than publisher - Greed.

America's Policy for Declaring War

The United States is in the process of fighting two foreign wars it can't afford: Iraq and Afghanistan. But many to this day cannot understand why our missions were not clearly defined from the beginning.

In the future, the President, Vice President and Secretary of Defense must be compelled sign, under oath, a Justification of War Decree - which can be used against them in a court of law.

We must constantly remind ourselves that the American Constitution is 'our' form of Democracy upon which this republic was founded. It is not a mandatory template to in any way, shape or form to attempt imposition upon other nations as a sort of 'one size fits all' - Christianity Based Directive.

Elimination of a Congressional Roadblock

The final steps necessary to bring America back on track - as the Forefathers envisioned, are as simple and straight forward as their original Constitutional Planning. The greatest impediment we face to restructuring our government is the - actual makeup of Congress itself.

We have allowed these people to not only cling to lifetime positions of power, but complete control of their ever increasing lavish benefits and pay raises as well. It will not be an easy task to separate them from their 'enrichment entitlements' but it is something we must strive to accomplish - eventually.

Voting them out will not work, because Americans routinely don't vote for candidates, but rather against other candidates. And we tend to vote 'hot button' issues rather than for a candidates overall campaign program.

Therefore, the best we might hope to accomplish (allowing for our partisan proclivities) is to effect major changes to the way Congress operates.

At the forefront of all other critical modifications that must be made, and incumbent on any possibility of change is that of - Congressional Term Limits.

One - Term Limits: No member of Congress should be allowed to hold office for more than a - maximum of four consecutive four year terms. At the end of whatever length of time they have occupied the office, earned credit toward 100 percent pension shall be calculated at 25 percent for each consecutive term served.

Two - Congressional Pensions: To be controlled and administered by a joint committee of the GAO (General Accounting Office) and the Social Security Administration.

Three - Congressional COLA's (Cost of Living Pay Raises): To be controlled and determined by the Government Accounting Office (GAO), and to be measured by that required for the citizenry as a whole as gauged on a four year time period.

Four - Congressional Benefits: To be controlled and administered by the GAO and the Social Security Administration.

Five - Congressional Health Insurance: Should any universal health plan ever develop within Congress, it shall immediately upon acceptance and initiation becomes mandatory (with no exceptions) that all members of Congress be signed onto said plan.

Six - Congressional Committee Chairmanships: To be limited to one four year congressional term.

Seven - Congressional Social Security: All members of Congress elected under the above rules must be vested in the Social Security System to the maximum limit - before private pension investment is allowed.

A Simple Path to the Future

The social and financial problems facing America are not insoluble ones, but simply ones whose obvious solutions we passionately tend dislike and, therefore, to outright reject. Nor does it help matters that we, as a nation, harbor a strong tendency to regard our Constitution more as a 'stand alone' religion, rather than for what it is: a Covenant of Governance.

Your comments - The voices of our readers

Right on. You have said it all. As a country we are screwed and we can put the blame squarely on both Democrats and Republican. If we are going to have a chance we have to clean house. And I mean all of congress. D. G, Hagerstown MD   Congress should get the same pay raise, that we, the retired will get for the next 2 years. Cogressional travel use to be on a first come first served basis. If the military was flying to California, members of Congress could fly free. It would appear that the Speaker of the House gets there own private aircraft from the US Government. Why?? Is military aircraft to stuffy for them, after all they(Congress) put up the money for the airplane, or is it the problem of putting on a 60 pound parachute, in case of an emergency, that scares them off. The same is also true for US Naval ships. Senator Ted Stevens usually took military aircraft to fly to the various points in Alaska, C-130s, I believe, which can be a little nippy at 20,000 feet. (This piece of news, was given to me by a member of the 'Crow Creek Pipe Band, several years ago). House of Representatives should be allowed 8 years of service, there and no more. Senators should serve no more than 12 years. If the President can only serve 2 terms, then maybe it is time to cut back on Congressional time in office. D. Martin, Niagara Falls, NY